Famed Soviet-American dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov will make a rare return to Toronto to perform in the Canadian premiere of BRODSKY / BARYSHNIKOV. The Dance Current asked Baryshnikov about his time in Canada and he responded by highlighting his relationships within the ballet community.

In the past few years, two of Canada’s most prominent contemporary dance companies have been shifting their perspective away from the traditional company structure, and the resulting expectations, toward creation hubs. The idea is to serve the evolving needs of the choreographic community. Now, Dancemakers Centre for Creation and Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV) are teaming up to create a cross-city artistic bridge between Toronto and Montréal.

From September 28th through 30th, the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa presents Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s Café Müller (1978) and The Rite of Spring (1975), an iconic double bill performed by the German contemporary dancetheatre company, entering its forty-fourth season. The Dance Current spoke with Cathy Levy, the executive producer for dance at the NAC, about bringing these international works to Canada.

Ancestralizing the Present was a free event hosted at The Dance Centre on June 10, 2017, with performances by Spakwus Slulem (Eagle Song Dancers), Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield) and Aeriosa. The event marks the extension of Mique’l Dangeli’s doctoral thesis “Dancing Sovereignty: Protocol and Politics in Northwest Coast First Nations Dance” and it involved “taking the time to get to know one another” – an approach that Dangeli believes to be closer to “reconciliation” than projects that simply tick the boxes of inclusivity, or demand that Indigenous artists perform settlers’ expectations of Indigenous culture.

Co-produced by Toffan Rhythm Projects and the Harbourfront Centre, the inaugural year of the Toronto International Tap Dance Festival featured performances, workshops, panel discussions and an all-are-welcome improvisational dance jam. As the final performance of the festival, The Jam provided a platform for dancers of all ages and levels to perform.

Assemblée Internationale 2017 took place this year from April 30 through May 6 at Canada’s National Ballet School. This international event takes place every four years and brings together training schools from all over the world to collaborate, learn and create.

On April 18, a new award that acknowledges excellence in critical writing and commentary on the visual, performing and literary arts will be celebrated in Vancouver. The Max Wyman Award for Cultural Commentary, or “The Max,” is the brainchild of community leader and philanthropist Dr. Yosef Wosk.

Since 2005, the Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA) has issued a message on behalf of the dance community in Canada as part of International Dance Day (IDD) on April 29. This year’s IDD Ambassador is Montréal-based dance artist and Sinha Danse Artistic Director Roger Sinha. He was invited to share his message about dance’s integral place in the lives of Canadians.

Holly Bright of Crimson Coast Dance Society was awarded one of two 2017 John Hobday Awards in Arts Management, Salomé Nieto won the 2017 VIDF Choreographic Award, Karen Kain, artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada (NBoC) has chosen to mentor Robert Binet, a choreographic associate of NBoC, as part of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Mentorship Program, Meredith Kalaman and Arash Khakpour received Dance Victoria’s Chrystal Dance Prize for Independent Dance Artsis, Katherine Semchuk won the New Work Award from Good Women Dance Collective. In other news, Ballet BC announced the appointment of John Clark as the company’s new Executive Director.

Don’t Forget the Money! is the first in a new series of forums presented by Mississauga’s Blackwood Gallery called Working with Concepts. The public discussion was aimed at navigating the unique labour processes in the interaction of artistic discipline of dance and various contemporary art contexts.

In February 2017, the board of directors of the Canadian Society for Dance Studies / La Société canadienne d’études en dance and the organization’s founder, Amy Bowring, announced its dissolution, citing low membership renewals and consequently less access to administrative funding.

Two recent events in Toronto allowed the Ontario dance community to come together to support and mentor the next generation of dancers while also showcasing the diversity of the current dance scene in the province.